Police Respond to Open Carry Demonstration at Texas Jack in the Box

Accounts of what happened at an open carry demonstration last week in Fort Worth area Jack in the Box differ between demonstrators and local police.

Imagine you’re ordering food at a fast food restaurant, and a bunch of guys walk in with AR15’s. What’s your first reaction?

Call the cops? Make a dash for the walk in freezer?

That’s police are saying happened last week when members of the Tarrant County Chapter of Open Carry Texas held an open carry demonstration in a Fort Worth area Jack in the Box.

After receiving a 911 call from the restaurant, several police arrived at the scene.

The accounts of what transpired before and after the cops arrived at the restaurant differs between police and the OCT demonstrators.

Sgt. Ray Bush with Fort Worth Police Department told local news that the restaurant staff was hiding in the walk-in freezer when they arrived at the scene.

“They locked themselves inside a freezer for protection out of fear the rifle-carrying men would rob them,” said Sgt. Bush. “The demonstration had no signage that would have alerted anyone to their real purpose, and to our knowledge they did not attempt to contact anyone in the Fort Worth Police Department to advise us prior to the demonstration.”

OCT said things went down differently.

Demonstrators pose for a shot in the Jack in the Box. Image via Facebook.

One of the demonstrators, Edwin Haros said that the scene was really quite tame.

“Everyone was nice at the Jack in the Box. We ordered, received our food, walked back out,” said Haros.

Open Carry Texas, the parent organization of the Tarrant County Chapter, made a statement on Tuesday that refuted the police’s side of the story.

“The truth is that not a single employee of Jack in the Box hid in a freezer nor did a single employee call 911 or the police,” OCT said in statement on their Facebook page.

OCT has since split from the Tarrant County chapter over differences regarding open carry legislation, according to Guns.com.

As for the Tarrant County Chapter, they said it’s business as usual.

“We’re still going to keep doing what we’re doing, walking three times a week and we’re going to keep working towards more gun rights in Texas,” Kory Watkins, one of the organization’s members, said.

What do you think about the open carry demonstration in the Jack in the Box? Share your thoughts in the comments section.